Part of our 'collective' problem as art teachers is that we "enable"
administrations to take advantage of us. We love the kids, we love teaching
art. Would "they" treat science or math teachers the way we are sometimes
treated? I think not. Private school or not, we must let administrations and
parents know that our training is no less important that math, science,
history or english. AND that what we teacher our students is no less
important. There was a time in my many years of teaching that we "non
academics" taught 6 periods a day while all others taught 5. We rose up and
said that our degrees were not PINK but WHITE like all others, and what we
taught was equivalent to LAB classes in science. We have not taught 6
(unless we volunteered and got paid extra) since. In our district all
teachers teach 5 (out of a 7 period day-47 mins per period HS level-one
duty, one prep) unless you volunteer to teach a 6th for 1/7th of your annual
pay. Keep in mind for every 5 teachers who teach the extra period, you lose
one job. Also keep in mind if you run yourself ragged early on, you won't
have the longevity (physically and mentally) to take advantage of the
retirement benefits you are entitled to.